Wired News: Creating the Global Hot Spot
Wired News: Creating the Global Hot Spot
Telecom giant Inmarsat is weeks away from launching the second in a series of two super-satellites — designed to be among the most powerful commercial communications spacecraft in orbit — that will beam broadband data and voice services to almost any location on the planet.
Instead of cruising for a Starbucks, BGAN subscribers can hit the road with a portable terminal as small as their laptop computer and surf the web — or connect with the office LAN — at broadband speeds of up to 492 Kbps.
“The network will cover 88 percent of the globe’s landmass,” said Chris McLaughlin, vice president of corporate communications for Inmarsat in London.
The satellite will harvest power from the sun by deploying massive solar panels that almost span the width of a football field. The panels will also act as solar sails, using the pressure of particles from the sun to provide additional propulsion in orbit.
It doubt it will be in the US for quite some time. Current telco and cable lobbyists will be dropping big bucks to make sure this doesn’t get a foot hold in the US. We have a funny kind of capitalism here. There are two real important aspects of true capitalism. Those are, the equal playing field for all and because of this the prices consumers pay will be reduced. But not US capitalism. If a comapny, or industry, can afford the lobbyists they will put up as many barriers to entering thee market as they can afford, so they don’t have to have price wars with new, emerging companies.
Oligopolies- A market condition in which sellers are so few that the actions of any one of them will materially affect price and have a measurable impact on competitors.
Have you ever heard of Wardenclyffe Tower? In 1900 the brilliant Nicola Tesla figured out a way to provide free electricity to everyone and was promptly shut down and bankrupted by the power companies. Oh well, at least he got a Heavy Metal band named after him.
Comment by Matt LeClair — November 6, 2005 @ 6:24 pm